Wig dryer

ABSTRACT

The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for decreasing the drying time required for a wig after washing. The wig is supported peripherally and centrally with the intermediate portions freely suspended in air over a base for catching liquid which drips from the wig. Air may also be forced through the wig from the inside outwardly to further decrease drying time.

United Siates Patent 15] 3,691,647 Snyder et a1, 1 51 Sept. 19, 1972 [541 WIG DRYER 3,376,656 4/1968 Carallo ..34/103 X [72] Inventors: Marshall 1). Snyder; Betty A. REI T P 0N5 Snyder, both of 2802 Dodge Ave., PO GN PATEN S OR AP LICA Fort Wayne, Ind. 46805 286,658 10/1915 Germany ..34/104 [22] Filed: July 1, 1970 1,175,940 1/1970 Great Bntam ..223/66 [21] Appl. No.: 51,647 Primary Examiner-Frederick L. Matteson Assistant Examiner-J-larry B. Ramey 52 us. c1. ..34/104 Ammeyqeffers & Kicker [51] Int. Cl ..F26b 9/00 58 Field of Search ..34/101, 106, 105, 104, 103, 1571 ABSTRACT 34/239 151; 223/661 67 The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for decreasing the drying time required for a [56] References C'ted wig after washing. The wig is supported peripherally UNITED STATES PATENTS and centrally with the intermediate portions freely suspended in air over a base for catching liquid WhlCll 2,590,021 3/1952 Landon ..34/239 drips f the wig Air may also be f d through the 3,298,532 l/l967 W 11cke ..21 l/7l X wig from the inside outwardly to further decrease 3,287,820 11/1966 01115011 ..34/151 ing time. 3,160,482 12/1964 Foote ..34/239 X 3,320,681 5/1967 Watlington ..34/ 103 X 4 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures PATENTEDSEP 19 m2 SHEEI 1 0F 2 INVENTORS BETTY A. SNYDER & MARSHALL D-- SNYDER WMLW ATTORNEYS PATENTEESEPIQWZ 3.691.647

SHEI 2 BF 2 V 3 a INVENTORS BETTY A. SNYDER & MARSHALL D. SNYDER BY Mu m ATTORNEYS WIG uuvuu BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1 takes about three days. Other schemes for effecting such drying are represented by the U.S. Pat. to Cavallo No. 3,376,656 which uses a standard hair dryer in conjunction with a jig and wig block so that the wig is supported within the hair dryer in substantially the same position as a human subject would normally be found. The US. Pat. to Watlington No. 3,320,681 illustrates a dryer very similar to Cavallo.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION I The previously noted schemes for drying a wig either require an inordinate length of time or entail a stretching or deformation of the wig. The present invention overcomes these prior art defects by providing support for the wig in a small centrally located portion and additionally providing support around at least a portion of the periphery of said wig. This dual support feature allows the wig to drip or drain rapidly and allows most of the surface both interior and exterior of the wig to be exposed to the air. Either of these supports used singly would result in substantial deformation of the wig, however, when used in conjunction they provide good support without deformation and with good surface area exposure.

Accordingly, it is one object of the present invention to rapidly dry a wig.

It is another object of the present invention to dry a wig without distorting it.

It is a further object of the present invention to avoid the mess normally caused by water dripping from the wig during prior art drying processes.

I In furtherance of the last mentioned object, the present invention has a base adapted to receive and retain the liquid dripping from a wig, first support means supported by said base and adapted to support at least a part of the periphery of the wig and provided with a plurality of apertures to allow the water dripping from the wig to pass through this first support means, a second support means which may itself be supported by the first support means and adapted to support a central of the wig thus allowing portions intermediate the two support means to be freely suspended in the air. The dryer may also be provided with a squirrel cage or other fan to force air upwardly through the second support means and outwardly through the wig.

Accordingly, it is a still further object of the present invention to provide a forced air wig drying device.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a compact unit for drying a wig.

These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will be more readily understood from a perusal of the following detailed description read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

BRIEF DESC a FIG. I is a perspective view of a forced air embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a cross section of the embodiment of FIG. 1 along the line 2-2;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of another embodiment of the present invention not having the forced air feature and showing the support means removed from the base; and

FIG. 4 is a cross sectional view of the embodiment of FIG. 3 along the line 4-4.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring first to FIG. 1 the forced air embodiment is seen to comprise a base 11 which supports a first support means I3. This support means 13 provides peripheral support to a part of the wig being dried. A second support means 15 is supported by and may be integral with the peripheral support 13. This second support 15 serves to maintain a somewhat vertical position of the wig and to keep most of the wig out of contact with any portion of the dryer so that it is exposed to the air on both sides over a majority of its surface. The second or central support may be provided with a series of apertures .17 through which forced air flows as will be explained subsequently. The central support is seen to be a vertically extending tube closed at the top and open at the bottom and having these air apertures 17 along its surface. The first support. means 13 may also be provided with a series of apertures 19 which allow any water dripping from the wig to pass through the second support and into the base 11. The base of the wig dryer may further be provided with an air intake vent 21. The distinction between the apertures 17 and the apertures 19 is most readily understood in reference to the cross sectional view shown in FIG. 2.

Turning now to FIG. 2 the air intake vent 21 is seen to allow air to pass into the base of the dryer and this air is in turn forced upwardly through the base of the dryer by a fan such as the squirrel cage fan 23. The base of the dryer is seen to be formed of two compartments, a drip catching compartment 25 and an air passage compartrnent 27. This latter air passage compartment is provided with a vertically extending tube 29 which con- I ducts the forced air upwardly toward the vertically extending closed support tube 15. In the embodiment illustrated, the first and second support means 13 and 15 are molded from a single piece of plastic or other material and supported on the base by a ridge 31. The air conducting or connecting tube 29 has an outside diameter less than the inside diameter of the vertically extending support tube 15 and thus any liquid which might be dripping down the inside surface of the tube does not enter the air conduit 29. This conduit or connecting tube 29 is shown as extending inside the support tube I5 so as to make a good air flow connection between the two tubes. A wet wig when placed over the supports I3 and 15 will drip with its water being collected by the support 13 and passing through the apertures 19 into the liquid retaining portion 25 of the base. In contradistinction the apertures 17 allow the air flow as forced by the fan 23 to pass outwardly through the support 15 and through the wig from the inside toward the outside. With most present day wigs,

the use of heated air would be undesirable; however, heating the air would be within the scope of the present invention.

Turning now to FIG. 3, a simple drip-dry embodiment of the invention is shown. This embodiment has a base 11' which serves to support a periphery supporting portion 13 and a portion for supporting the center of the wig 15'. This first support means 13' is again provided with one or more apertures 19 to allow water dripping from the wig to pass through the support 13' into the base 11' which is again adapted to catch and retain the liquid. The vertically extending tubular portion 15' which serves as a second support means has no need for apertures corresponding to those in FIG. 2

since this embodiment does not have the forced air feature. The embodiment of FIG. 3 also illustrates two further possible modifications which are equally applicable to the embodiment of FIG. 1. The vertically extending tubular portion 15' may be provided at the top with an extended surface 16 to better support the central portion of the wig. This vertically extending tubular portion 15' may also be made separate from the first support means 13' and be provided with a series of protuberances l8 and pass through a keywayed aperture in the support portion 13'. Thus the vertically extending portion 15' may be turned so that the protuberances 18 line up with the key slot and raised or lowered to an optimum height and then rotated again so that the appropriate protuberance 18 engages the support 13' to most efficiently support and dry a wig of a given size. Other schemes for adjusting the height of the central support portion will readily suggest themselves to those of ordinary skill in the art.

FIG. 4 illustrates a cross sectional view of the dripdry embodiment of FIG. 3 along the line 4-4 and illustrates that the water may be collected in the lower portion of the base at since this portion of the base is no longer needed to house the blower 23 of FIG. 2. In this embodiment, the first and second supports may again be a single molded piece of plastic whose outer periphery is supported by the base 1 1'.

The process for drying a wig using either embodiment of the present invention should now be clear. The wig is washed and then placed over the vertically extending tube 15 so that the top of this tube supports the wig at a central location. At least part of the periphery of the wig is spread out so as to be supported by the supporting member 13 whereby the portion of the wig intermediate this central portion and its periphery is freely suspended in the air. Water which drips from the wig passes through the apertures 19 or 19 and is collected in the water collecting portion of the base 25 or 25'. In the embodiment of FIGS. 1 and 2 an air flow is created through the wig from the inside outwardly by energizing the squirrel cage or other type of fan 23.

When this wig is dried it is removed and the entire lid portion l3, 15 or 13, 15 is removed and the water poured from the base 11 or 11, the lid replaced and the entire unit stored until it is again needed.

It should now be clear that many modifications and variations of the present invention are possible and accordingly the scope of the present invention is to be measured only by that of the appended claims.

We claim:

1. A support for drying wig com rising:

a base comprising a ho ow open op water-tight container adapted to receive and retain the liquid dripping from a wig;

first support means supported by said base and adapted to support at least part of the periphery of a wig, said first support means adapted to substantially close said base top and being provided with a plurality of apertures adapted to allow the liquid dripping from said wig to flow by gravity through said apertures and into said base;

second support means extending above and supported by said first support means and adapted to support a central portion of said wig, whereby portions of said wig intermediate said central portion and said periphery are freely suspended in the air; and

means for creating a flow of air outwardly through said wig.

2. A support for drying a wig comprising:

a base adapted to receive and retain the liquid dripping from a wig;

first support means supported by said base and adapted to support at least a part of the periphery of a wig;

second support means formed of a vertically extending tube closed at the top and open at the bottom and provided with a plurality of apertures along the surface, said second support means being supported by said first support means and adapted to support a central portion of said wig, whereby portions of said wig intermediate said central portion and said periphery are freely suspended in the air; and

means for creating a flow of air outwardly through said wig comprising said apertured tube in conjunction with, a fan having an air inlet and an air outlet, and a connecting tube having an outside diameter less than the inside diameter of said second support means, said fan air outlet congravity through said first support means and into said base. 

1. A support for drying a wig comprising: a base comprising a hollow open top water-tight container adapted to receive and retain the liquid dripping from a wig; first support means supported by said base and adapted to support at least part of the periphery of a wig, said first support means adapted to substantially close said base top and being provided with a plurality of apertures adapted to allow the liquid dripping from said wig to flow by gravity through said apertures and into said base; second support means extending above and supported by said first support means and adapted to support a central portion of said wig, whereby portions of said wig intermediate said central portion and said periphery are freely suspended in the air; and means for creating a flow of air outwardly through said wig.
 2. A support for drying a wig comprising: a base adapted to receive and retain the liquid dripping from a wig; first support means supported by said base and adapted to support at least a part of the periphery of a wig; second support means formed of a vertically extending tube closed at the top and open at the bottom and provided with a plurality of apertures along the surface, said second support means being supported by said first support means and adapted to support a central portion of said wig, whereby portions of said wig intermediate said central portion and said periphery are freely suspended in the air; and means for creating a flow of air outwardly through said wig comprising said apertured tube in conjunction with, a fan having an air inlet and an air outlet, and a connecting tube having an outside diameter less than the inside diameter of said second support means, said fan air outlet connected to said connecting tube and said connecting tube extending into the interior of said second support means.
 3. The support of claim 2 wherein said fan is a squirrel cage fan.
 4. The support of claim 3 wherein said first support means is provided with a plurality of apertures adapted to allow the liquid dripping from said wig to pass by gravity through said first support means and into said base. 